Lionel Richie

With a string of chart-topping singles and award-winning albums, Lionel Richie was the 1980s ultimate balladeer. He launched his career as the singer and saxophone player of the funk-soul group the Co...
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"Ugh. Just shoot me! Remember, now, she was the first. And so my expectation of that was going to be: disaster... Nicole and Paris told me later, 'I told you so'. But I must tell you, at the time, I thought, 'This is about the worst thing that could ever happen to a family'!" Lionel Richie was convinced his daughter Nicole's reality TV series The Simple Life with Paris Hilton would be a huge mistake.

Lionel Richie has given up on plans to reunite The Commodores because he cannot imagine performing tracks like Easy and Three Times a Lady without late bandmate Milan Williams. The Hello singer enjoyed massive success with the soul supergroup before his solo career took off and he often considered a get together up until Williams lost his battle with cancer in 2006 - and now he insists there's little chance his old band will regroup.
He tells EW.com, "Everything was great until we lost Milan, the keyboard player, which makes a reunion kind of strange.
"We'll always get together as a band for off-and-on things. But I think I lost the spark of that fantasy, of all of us crazy guys on stage."

"I go and get all of the T-shirts of everybody, because I have to have... shirts that I cut up for my car washing. I have to cut 'em up. And they (kids) go, 'Dad, what are you doing with the Jack White T-shirt?' and I go, 'Well, it's simple, I gotta wash the car'." Lionel Richie collects T-shirts when he's performing at festivals and plans to stock up on car washing 'cloths' when he performs at Bonnaroo in Tennessee later this year (14).

"It was freaky. It freaked me out. It was Mike, it was brilliantly done. But it made me a little uneasy because I keep waiting for him (to come out) and I realise that it is him, but it's not him. It was a little over the top for me." Singer Lionel Richie was not a fan of the hologram of his late pal Michael Jackson at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday (18May14).

The Wanted star Siva Kaneswaran is determined to return to the pop charts as a solo superstar now the boy band has embarked on an extended hiatus. The singer admits the group's break-up announcement in January (14) hit him hard and he needed to take a few days to figure out what to do next.
As well as launching an acting career in Hollywood, Kaneswaran reveals he has new music planned.
He tells Paper magazine, "I'll take something like Lionel Richie or Earth, Wind & Fire and mix that with something new, like Coldplay... (and) I want to work with everyone... I'll feature on everyone's track."
A debut solo album is expected to be released later this year (14) and Kaneswaran admits there's one thing about being a member of a boy band he won't miss: "I just want to go crazy. I have to play a role in the band. I have to be 'that guy' and sing and do the usual dance, the air grabs. Now I can do what I want."
The Wanted wrapped up its final show in Oklahoma on Saturday (17May14).

Singer Lionel Richie is set to receive the 2014 BET Lifetime Achievement Award next month (Jun14). The Hello hitmaker will be feted at the Nokia Theatre ceremony in Los Angeles on 29 June (14).
He will also perform at the event, which will be hosted by actor/comedian Chris Rock.
Past recipients of the award include soul icons Whitney Houston, James Brown, The Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight and Diana Ross.

Kim Kardashian's sibling Kylie Jenner has risked falling foul of the law after tattooing her initials on Lionel Richie's son.
The reality TV star, 16, was reportedly at a recording studio with her older half-sister Khloe Kardashian and her rumoured beau, French Montana, in Los Angeles on Friday (09May14) when Miles Richie decided to get inked. Tattooist John Petro arrived to craft a design, and Jenner decided to join in, reportedly pulling on gloves and inscribing her initials on his hand with a tattoo pen, according to TMZ.com.
Jenner was caught on tape during the stunt and she could land in trouble with the law because California regulations dictate only over-18s can tattoo flesh. She could face a $1,000 (£625) fine and be slapped with a misdemeanour if authorities decided to take action.

Miranda Lambert has extended her reign as the new queen of country after leading the nominations for the 2014 CMT Music Awards. The Mama's Broken Heart singer is up for six trophies at this year's event - two as a solo act, two for her We Were Us duet with Keith Urban and two with her band the Pistol Annies.
Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan have landed five nods each, while Urban and Taylor Swift have four each to take to the CMT Music Awards on 4 June at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in Tennessee.
The night's big prize for Video of the Year will be a battle between Blake Shelton and Pistol Annies (Boys 'Round Here), Carrie Underwood (See You Again), Eric Church (Give Me Back My Hometown), Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan (This Is How We Roll), Hunter Hayes (I Want Crazy), Kacey Musgraves (Follow Your Arrow), Keith Urban with Miranda Lambert (We Were Us), Luke Bryan (That's My Kind of Night), Miranda Lambert (Automatic), Taylor Swift (Red), Thomas Rhett (It Goes Like This) and Tim McGraw with Taylor Swift and Keith Urban (Highway Don't Care).
Meanwhile, Dierks Bentley and OneRepublic (Counting Stars), Jake Owen (Days Of Gold), Lady Antebellum and Stevie Nicks (Rhiannon), Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie (Oh No/All Night Long), The Band Perry and Fall Out Boy (My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark) and Willie Nelson and Neil Young (Long May You Run) - all from CMT TV specials - are up for the CMT Performance of the Year prize.

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Summary

With a string of chart-topping singles and award-winning albums, Lionel Richie was the 1980s ultimate balladeer. He launched his career as the singer and saxophone player of the funk-soul group the Commodores, which helped redefine the Motown sound with its anthem "Brick House" (1977) and the easy-listening classic "Three Times a Lady" (1978), among several other hits. Following his contentious departure from the Commodores, Richie transitioned to a successful solo performer with the release of his Grammy Award-winning album <i>Can't Slow Down</i> (1983). The album included some of Richie's signature hits, from the upbeat party track "All Night Long (All Night)," to the heartfelt ballad "Hello." An acclaimed songwriter, Richie collaborated with Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones in producing the 1985 charity single "We Are the World," one of the biggest selling singles in the history of recorded music. However, his personal life played out much differently than his love songs. In 1988, Richie's estranged wife was arrested for brutally attacking him after she caught the singer in a hotel room with his lover. Despite all the controversy surrounding his failed marriage - to say nothing of the storms he weathered from his adopted daughter, Nicole Richie - the singer continued to make music throughout the '90s and 2000s, maintaining a strong presence in the music industry, and solidifying his status as one of the more respected vocalists and songwriters of his generation.